Republicans find religion on spending

AUSTIN — After years of preaching the gospel of tight budgets and smaller government, some Republicans are finding religion when it comes to spending.

Exhibit A is Sid Miller, who as a state lawmaker voted to slash the Texas Department of Agriculture’s budget in the face of a projected budget shortfall. Now that he’s agriculture commissioner, he’s pleading with the Legislature to restore funding so he can do his job.

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“This department touches the lives of a Texan more times in one day than any other state agency,” said Miller, who cites a myriad of duties that are being shortchanged, including oversight of gasoline pumps to ensure they dispense the amount of fuel purchased and pesticide inspections that he said are important to public health.

“I certainly don’t want to be responsible for some person’s child being poisoned in this state. That’s why we’re asking for the Legislature to give us a little more help," Miller said in an interview about his $50 million budget request.

Video: Sid Miller interview

He’s not the only one looking for fiscal salvation.

State agencies’ requests for additional funding total $25 billion as lawmakers craft a budget for the next two years, said Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound. The current two-year budget totals about $200 billion.

Lawmakers expect some $16.7 billion in additional state general-revenue-related funds, but about $5 billion to $6 billion of that is fenced off by a politically tough-to-break spending cap. Several billion more dollars would be eaten up with promised tax relief.

Still, there’s a push for increased spending in these relatively flush times, and Sid Miller isn’t the only Republican with ideas on how it should be done.

New Attorney General Ken Paxton, a former state senator, wants $8.4 million more a year for salaries to recruit and retain good lawyers.

New Comptroller Glenn Hegar, another former senator, wants $32 million for increased salaries, training and modernization of tax systems, and $39.4 million to more quickly convert agencies to a new accounting system.

State auditors are leaving at an alarming rate, their pay so noncompetitive that they sometimes depart in the middle of an audit, dragging out the process, according to his office.

Another fresh Republican officeholder, Land Commissioner George P. Bush, is requesting $5 million for deferred maintenance and upgrades at the Alamo.

Lawmakers also are confronted with pocketbook issues at agencies like the Texas Department of Insurance, which is asking for more staff to investigate fraud after receiving 13,341 fraud reports in fiscal year 2014. It opened just 740 cases for investigation.

Sid Miller talks about voting for cuts and then asking for money to be restored

Media: Videolicious

Strong Republican champions have emerged for spending more on higher-profile state needs like transportation, which needs several billion more dollars a year just to keep congestion as maddening as it is right now. Education and border security also are getting close attention. Crumbling state facilities are the focus of a newly established Senate committee.

Since Republicans took control of Texas statewide offices in 1998, and then both legislative chambers, their mantra has increasingly focused on smaller government, less regulation and less spending — approving significant budget cuts in 2003 during an economic downturn, and again in 2011 in the face of a projected revenue shortfall.

“It is possible” to cut too much, Nelson said. “I’ve been around when it hurt. …We’ve got to scrutinize and make sure that if we’re finding efficiencies that we’re not eliminating services in a way that’s harmful.”

Long-standing issues including the protection of children from abuse and neglect have the promise of support from Nelson, who said she’ll heed a budget working group on the issue.

“I can’t think of any mission we have that’s more important than protecting our children, and we need the resources to do that,” she said. “And whatever the workgroup tells me they need to do that, I will find the money.”

Democrats who have long touted the need to invest in crucial services see a chance to do that this session.

“In the past, absolutely, we've kicked a lot of this on down the road. I think the philosophy in the past has lent itself to this perfect storm that we're seeing now, where we have billions in needs for critical infrastructure and deferred maintenance needs. It's time now to step up and have the courage to catch up,” said Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, a Finance Committee member.

Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Houston Democrat who is House Appropriations Committee vice chairman, sees “an opportunity to attend to the state’s key priorities.”

Republicans said they want to focus on the most important needs.

“What we're trying to do is address the state's most pressing needs, the important programs that must be funded and the infrastructure and other items that need to be funded,” said House Appropriations Committee John Otto, R-Dayton, citing public safety and basic services. “This is just like you and I keep track of our budget: We only have a certain amount of money to spend, and we pay the items that we have to fund first.”

Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said it’s important for agencies to come in with details about the problems to be addressed with additional funds, which he said Miller did.

Rep. Larry Gonzales, however, suggested some were taken aback by Miller making such a large request so soon after taking office, suggesting that it would have made sense for him to take more time to look over the agency. House budget writers have recommended a fraction of the money requested by Miller.

“What we saw was a growth in government and an expansion of programs that’s really big for such a short amount of time of a new administration,” said Gonzales, R-Round Rock, head of the House Appropriations subcomittee overseeing Miller’s agency.

Miller, who emphasized he wants to restore money that was cut, doesn’t shy away from his legislative record, even citing his favorable rating from a limited-government group to House budget-writers.

“I voted for 'em and cuts to other agencies, too,” Miller, in the interview, said of the Agriculture Department’s reductions in the great budget bloodbath of 2011.

“If you will remember, at that time we had a $27 billion shortfall, so we had to make some tough decisions,” Miller said. “That’s not the case now. The state is on good financial ground, so we believe that those cuts should be restored so that we can serve the consumers and the citizens of this state and do our statutory job.

“I was sworn to an oath to uphold the laws of the state of Texas and those are the laws that have been given to us by the Legislature, so I intend to do my job,” he said.

Gonzales said he also voted for 2011 cuts, but with strong concerns over what could happen to state agencies.

“As a Republican, I do believe that government should be limited and efficient and do a few things and do them well. But we do have a role in protecting one of the largest economic drivers and employers in our state,” Gonzales said.

The Agriculture Department could be a good case study of government’s role.

“Is Commissioner Miller now realizing the practical effects of cutting to a point where consumers aren’t protected? And where the Agriculture Department isn’t functioning as it should for it being the economic driver it is for our state?” Gonzales asked. “I can only look at the requests and see that to be true.”